Reissued under executive producion of Marcelo Fróes with “juridical help” from Adriana Vendramini, botched graphical layout by Baby Cartier, and “remastering” from Ricardo Carvalheira. They should all be out of a job.

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An exception album by Candeia in more ways than one. More animated and confident than his first album (note: even though he’d been part of Portela for years and written many of their greatest samba enredos, 1970 was the first time he ventured into making an album). Stylistically he’s moved away from the touches of “samba de asfalto” (urban samba) on that first album that may have been an influence of friend and fellow Portela stalwart Paulinho da Viola, and into the territory of rootsy ‘roda da samba’, samba pagode, partido alto, and even samba soul. It’s this latter that is the other ‘exception’ to this album. To my knowledge its the only time Candeia really experimented with this form and it seems no coincidence that the three tracks touched by this style were all arranged by José Roberto. “Saudação a Toco Preto” is a funk-driven tune that sounds like a ponto cantado of umbanda punctuated with punchy brass, while “Imaginação” is a straight-up soul ballad. The closer of the album, “Quarto Escuro” is a more traditional samba but with the production trappings of organ and string arrangements, both of which blend quite nicely when the surdo drum comes in to kick it into gear. Unsurprisingly this is probably the most successful of the three tunes here that had an outside arranger. The other two are not *bad* songs by any means, but Candeia sounds a bit awkward singing them. If I had been in the studio I would have told him those songs “não tem sua cara” — they’re just not you, Candeia.

I shouldn’t focus on the exceptions because the rest of the album is some of the most Classic Candeia out there. The album opens with “Vem, é Lua” which is just plain.. exciting. Followed by “Filosofia de Samba”, one of his enduring compositions. The third track is the only one not written by him but instead introduces a ‘new’ Portela writer, Anézio (with Wilson Bombeiro). The tune “Saudades” is a modernized choro and tribute to Paulo de Portelo, the old “professor” of the samba school. “Vai Pró Lado de Lá” is partido-alto at its finest. How the hell could this album have ever been out of print? ‘Regresso’, also fantastic. How many superlatives can I hurl at these songs before I choke on my own tongue?

Candeia would take a break of four years before releasing another album, for reasons unknown to me. Maybe he was just lazy, gimps in wheelchairs often are lazy. (Just checking to see if anyone actually reads these descriptions.. )

Of the three disastrous Candeia reissues released simultaneously by the sketchy label Discobertas, this one probably sounds the best. But still very inconsistent. Some songs sound fine, others mediocre, still others downright awful, like low-res mp3s (even though the bitdepth of the FLACs all average around 800-odd kbs). As usual no details are given about the technical aspects of the reissue, but there is no doubt that master tapes were NOT used. The label ‘Equipe’ was a small indie but also had put out albums by notables like Eumir Deodato in the 60s. With a little digging it seems like a backup master could be found. Or at least a GOOD vinyl copy to work from. Oh, and they could hire a real mastering engineer and do it in a proper studio and maybe spend more than 45 minutes on the mastering.

Oh, and they totally fucked up the track order on the outer tray of the album. Thankfully, the songs are actually in the correct playing order on the CD, just listed wrong on the reissue jacket. Just as embarrassing, they actually have the tracks numbers for José Roberto’s arrangements correct inside the booklet. Just how quickly is Discobertas rushing this stuff out? Don’t they have anybody proofreading or (gods forbid!) LISTENING to these before putting out on the market?

Other than these small complaints (!), it is of course a joy to have this album back in print. I suppose we can expect another reissue of it sometime around 2020, if the world hasn’t ended by then.

The music is fantastic, and that’s what matters! Right? …. Yeah, right.

Twan, its my unfunny attempt at droll, black humor. But there`s nothing funny about it. I was also strung out on cold medicine and insomnia but still no excuse.

I know the Di Melo album but I don`t have it, its damn hard to track down without selling an organ. They just made a documentary about the guy, actually. haven`t seen it yet but I will look for a link to send you

formerly, the sambaistas of Brazil who were here the party were discriminated high-and had recognized its classic recorded by major labels, and after his death. I asked you this, there are only on vinyl

Ok you had bad words regarding gimps, but I don’t care about political correctness as well as I mostly appreciate caustic humour. But who care anyway? 😉
Thanks for this recording, and all the other ones I didn’t take the time to thank you for.